


CRISPR

by writingandchocolatemilk



Category: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28644237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingandchocolatemilk/pseuds/writingandchocolatemilk
Summary: 'Not bad,' Maurice signed, but Caesar got the impression the ape was implying something more along the lines of: See, that wasn't so hard.A smile threatened to creep across Caesar's mouth, but he fought it. Smiling could be considered an admission of fear, and Caesar, above all else, was not afraid. He could not be, now that he sat there, looking out at the city, the hoots of apes around him.
Relationships: Caesar/Cornelia (Planet of the Apes 2011)
Kudos: 2





	CRISPR

**Author's Note:**

> [hand fart noises]
> 
> I've been a fan of these movies for legit years. Finally posting this thing.
> 
> We pick up where the movies left off.

Caesar gazed out across the bay, the sirens carrying over the water with the wind. He could just make out the disordered figures of the humans waving to each other. A fog bank was quickly rolling in, and it wouldn't be long before they were all enveloped.

Caesar heard the approach of an ape from below, heavy and lumbering. He waited until Maurice was perched next to him before glancing over.

'Not bad,' Maurice signed, but Caesar got the impression the ape was implying something more along the lines of: _See, that wasn't so hard_.

A smile threatened to creep across Caesar's mouth, but he fought it. Smiling could be considered an admission of fear, and Caesar, above all else, was not afraid. He could not be, now that he sat there, looking out at the city, the hoots of apes around him.

'What now?' Maurice began to sign, but another ape was quickly approaching from a neighboring tree.

Caesar recognized the chimp, a nasty beast that had been one second away from ripping Will's face off. Caesar almost waved him off, but the angry—spiteful—side of him wanted to see what he had to say.

The ape surprised him, holding out his hand, palm upwards. Now, Caesar almost waved him off, just to watch his hand pull back, watch him retreat, but it would be foolish to judge an ape for attacking a human after the bridge.

Caesar touched his palm.

The ape regarded him for a second, looking between Caesar and the bridge. Then he signed: 'Human.' He pointed from the bridge, then pointed down, then gestured around at the surrounding apes. _Humans coming here to get us_. He paused, gestured again to indicate the apes, and then pointed into the trees. Jabbed his finger, hooting to emphasize. _Apes need to go_.

Yes, they did. It wouldn't be long before the humans came after them. They were safe in the trees, Caesar knew that, but that wouldn't deter the humans. After all, Caesar had seen the nature documentaries about chimps, and they were not native to California. Humans had captured them once before.

The ape pointed once again. Caesar nodded.

Maurice signed: 'Few apes hurt.'

The ape watched, then signed: 'Human hurt ape.' Again: 'Human hurt ape!'

Well, he wasn't wrong about that, either. They had to move. Caesar gestured to the ground below, climbing down. He felt the eyes of the surrounding apes follow his descent, and then heard as they moved to follow him.

Caesar's feet were the first to hit the pine needles below. He watched the other apes move, slow and awkward. Many hadn't touched a tree in years, while still others had never climbed a tree in their life. They would have to move soon to stay ahead of any humans if they couldn't travel quickly through the trees.

More problems.

Caesar gazed around him. He signed: 'Apes hurt?'

At the prison, he had taught the other apes some basic sign. Ape, human, left, right, food, and so on. It had been a quick lesson, but enough that those same apes could quickly translate to the surrounding chimps. A few new apes, the ones from the lab or the zoo, repeated Caesar's hand motions.

There was a ripple, and fifteen apes appeared. One was limping heavily, another cradling a newborn, and yet still another holding a hand to her ear. Caesar and Maurice went through each of them to assess.

Zoey's ear was gone, but she signed back quite jovially: 'Human worse hurt.' The bleeding was already clotting off.

The mother of the child could sign 'food' and 'ape,' but lacked the bright eyes of the others. Caesar entrusted her to Zoey, who cooed at the baby and tried to sign with the mother.

Two apes, Jaz and Lulu, leaned heavily against one another for support. Jaz had a bullet rip clean through his leg and was actively bleeding. It was a miracle he had made it across the bridge, but Caesar suspected it was Lulu who had dragged him across and into the tree line. She had a bloody eye and was missing half her teeth.

She explained: 'Human hit with stick.' The police then, with their nightstick. She seemed rather dazed now that immediate danger had dissipated.

Caesar caught sight of Rocket and waved him over. 'I need something to stop bleeding. Leaf? Moss?' he tried. He pointed to a nearby shrub and mossy rock respectively. Rocket seemed to understand and moved off.

A gorilla, another one whose eyes were dull, cradled his hand to his chest.

The other injuries were less severe. One orangutan, Jojo, pointed to his ears and shook his head. Bonnie had grazed hands from the bridge. They were raw and red, and she clearly could not travel through the trees.

Altogether, about seven apes were unfit for travel. However, the whole troop was exhausted. Focus on those who couldn't move, worry about the rest later.

Caesar filled Jaz's leg with moss and wrapped leaves as tight as he could around the wound, but the ape was breathing fast and gripping Lulu's hand so hard she winced even when Caesar moved away.

The ape from before—Koba—returned. Again, he pointed at the trees. His eyes swept over Jaz and then returned to Caesar. He shook his head. Lips pulled back across his teeth. _He won't make it. Stupid to try_.

Lulu caught the look and bared her canines at Koba. 'No,' she signed, over and over and over again. She gripped Jaz's hand and pointed to the forest behind Koba.

Koba turned his sneer to Lulu. She lunged at him. Backed away at the last second. A threat, clear as day. Koba stood on his legs, hooting back, taking a few steps forward. The surrounding apes began to chatter nervously.

Caesar stepped in between them. 'Stop this!' he signed, finishing the words with his hands raised, physically preventing either of them from approaching one another. 'This doesn't help anything!'

The chatter died down immediately.

Caesar looked around slowly. They were scared, eyes wide, shoulders hunched. The fog was just beginning to reach them, pearling on their fur and catching the last remaining light. It would be freezing by the time the sun set.

His eyes settled on Lulu. 'Not leaving any ape.' He turned his gaze to Koba. 'Not any ape.'

Koba couldn't keep Caesar's hard stare. Still, he signed: 'How?'

Caesar looked between Koba and Lulu. 'They will have to be carried.'

Koba shook his head, lips still curled. He dragged one hand up his opposing arm. _Too slow_.

There was a soft hoot, and Caesar looked over to Cornelia. She stayed with the rest of the crowd, but she stood. She clapped her hands gently together, then signed: 'Use.' She repeated the clapping.

'Horses?' Caesar signed.

Cornelia nodded, repeating the sign. 'Ran close.'

It could work. They were tame and could likely bear the weight of two chimps. It might definitely work, if they could find enough horses. 'Good idea. Cornelia, Rocket, with me. Any others?'

Two chimps stepped forward. One had no name, the other was Tangerine. They seemed fit and energetic. Caesar gestured for them to join.

Caesar looked to Maurice, who nodded back in understanding.

The five of them set off through the trees. There were a few minutes of adjusting to the speed of travel, but they quickly fell into synch and loped through the branches. Cornelia led the group, fastest out of any of them, floating through the leaves like she was born with wings. Rocket lagged behind, hooting with concentration.

It was the first time Caesar had moved with other apes out in the open. Occasionally, the group would move as one along a particular treetop, choosing different paths but flowing as one across the crown. It felt like even their breath came as one.

Cornelia slowed down in the most terrifying way possible. She seemed to miss a branch. Plummeted ten, twenty feet. Caught a branch and swung neatly up, perched like a bird. She motioned for them to drop to her branch.

Caesar jumped to her tree and slid down until he sat next to her. The others hung back higher in the canopy, catching their breath. Cornelia pointed excitedly, jumping up and down on the branch slightly.

Sure enough, a horse stood in the center of a hiker's path, about ten feet below them and twenty ahead. It swayed back and forth, like it wasn't sure what to do without a rider, so it was stuck between motion and stagnation. Apes may have once been prisoners, but at least they had never been slaves.

It nickered softly, pawed the ground. Caesar crept back up the trunk and swung to the neighboring tree, moving slowly until he was positioned over the horse. He could see Cornelia's wide eyes, watching him, and see the other three hanging from the tips of their fingers.

Caesar almost rolled his eyes. He dropped down neatly onto the horse's back, grabbing the reigns. The horse whipped around, bucking, braying wildly, but Caesar pulled back on the reigns until the horse quieted.

Immediately, Cornelia was down on the ground next to him. She reached out a tentative hand. Flinched back when the horse whinnied.

'Safe,' Caesar signed. He swung down and offered her the reigns. 'Trained for this. Lead with these.' He gave the reigns a slight shake.

Cornelia looked between Caesar, the horse, steaming in the cool air, the reigns. She reached out, ran one finger along the cool leather, and then took the lead from Caesar. She clambered onto the horse, freezing every time the horse shifted on its feet.

Once Caesar was sure neither Cornelia of the horse would spook, he signed up to the others. 'Go along path. Find more.'

One horse, a particularly wicked thing that nearly took Rocket's head off with a kick and snapped at Tangerine's fingers, required Cornelia to ride down with another horse. She jumped over and scrambled for purchase. Wheeled around, laughing, the horse still racing beneath her. It took both Cornelia on the reigns and Caesar cutting the horse off with his own to stop the thing. Cornelia found the horse to her liking.

She rode off to continue looking.

Rocket looked at Caesar. 'She's insane.'

Caesar let out a sharp breath. 'Apparently.'

Rocket, still staring after he, signed something to the effect of: 'She's absolutely insane.'

Caesar laughed in earnest this time.

The whole thing took about an hour. In the end, they had six horses that had panicked and fled from the bridge.

It was slower returning to the troop. While the five of them could fly through the trees, it was trickier getting the horses around fallen logs, deep fissures, and brambles.

'No name?' Cornelia was asking the fifth member.

'No,' he confirmed, once again.

'Choose one,' Cornelia said.

Rocket grunted. 'Can't just choose one.'

'Why?' Cornelia immediately shot back, before Rocket was even done signing.

'You're given a name,' Rocket supplied.

'By humans?' the unnamed chimp asked.

'By anyone,' Rocket signed, at the same exact time Cornelia signed: 'Humans never gave me anything.'

Tangerine was following this conversation with an amused look on her face. 'What if you don't like the human name?'

Rocket gave a half-hearted shrug. He clearly wasn't keen on defending the practices of humans. 'Humans fed me, humans slept me—' Housed, Caesar corrected in his head, 'humans named me.'

Cornelia puckered her lips in scorn.

The unnamed chimp held his hands up in defeat. 'One of you pick a name. All win.'

'Horse,' Cornelia signed.

The unnamed chimp gave her a worried look. 'My name is not _horse_.'

'Why not? You caught a horse. It's a good name!'

Tangerine chuckled, a low, hooting noise that started soft, then rose in volume, and then abruptly cut off, her shoulders still shaking in a silent peal of laughter. Cornelia looked offended for a brief moment, then broke, the laughter contagious. Their laughter echoed through the trees, both muffled all-encompassing in the fog.

They returned to the other apes around dusk. Jaz had lost consciousness, the bandages around his leg dark around with blood. Lulu was holding his hand, one eye wide with fear, the other swollen shut. She stood and waved at Caesar, chattering nervously.

'Second time,' she signed, pointing to the bandage.

Caesar's heart sank. 'Good job with the bandages,' he signed instead.

'Will he be okay?'

Caesar was almost lost for an answer. 'He's lost a lot of blood,' he said, movements firm and punctual. 'We need to move, find water, and let him rest.'

Caesar, with the help of Koba, managed to bodily haul Jaz onto one of the horses. Lulu still hung onto his hand, eyes wide at the horse but unwilling to move away. Jaz slumped forward like a limp doll.

Cornelia jumped up behind Jaz and shifted him around, getting comfortable in the saddle. Her horse whickered. Caesar found himself hesitating, one hand still on the reins of the horse. Cornelia smiled at him and gently led the horse onwards, and Caesars hand dropped to his side, the leather sliding from his grip.

Caesar swung up on his own horse and surveyed the crowd. They looked up at him, bunched together, waiting for him to say something.

But Caesar was tired.

Waited for him to say anything.

Caesar held up a hand for quiet. 'I know,' he signed, 'you are tired. We have all come a long way.' Caesar nodded, more to himself. 'A long way. But I will ask more from you. Not for myself, but for others.'

He swung the horse around. 'We are all we have. We _must_ …' He repeated: ' _Must_ look out for one another as we move. We leave no one behind.'

* * *

Jaz didn't make it to nightfall.


End file.
